Review Mountadam Chardonnay 2002

81 points

An old favorite, not tasted for some years. This is a wine from a great vintage, great vineyard, and treated with good quality French oak. So it comes across as a wine with good ingredients, and yet is far from top quality.

Goldish coloured, buttery hessian nose, it tastes like a watered down version of a top quality chardonnay. Drink it cold.

The back label talks about it being a concentrated wine subject to barrel ferment etc. I'm sure the wine making techniques were carried out (including too much skin contact) and on fruit that lacked the intensity and concentration needed for these 'full on' burgundian techniques. What are Mountadam doing ? Turning the irrigation on their grapes ? I do not recommend this wine even though its price looks lower than chardonnays of similar history and reputation.